inFAMOUS: Nerves of Steel
by spyDIR
Summary: Andrew Ferroccio, a young metal manipulating Conduit, attempts to reunite with the friends he made while locked away in Curdun Cay Station in order to end a new anti-Conduit organization's plans at eliminating people with powers entirely.
1. Activation

My name is Andrew Ferroccio. I was born and raised in Nelson City just south of Empire in New York. I am a Conduit. I was thirteen years old when The Beast destroyed my town and all my family and friends along with it. I was activated by one of The Beast's Ray Sphere blasts. I remember running for my life down a street littered with rubble from the collapsing buildings all around it and the dead bodies of all those who weren't lucky enough to dodge the falling debris. I was holding my mother's arm, and my older sister, about seventeen at the time, was running ahead of us trying to clear a path, I guess. She stopped and looked up. The look that was on her face is something that I won't ever forget. I saw all hope leave her like it was being drained by whatever held her attention. I saw in her eyes that she knew that this was the end, that she was going to die. I loved my sister, even though I never said it. Seeing her so devastated... it hurt so bad.

I looked away from my sister's face because tears were swelling up in my eyes, and I couldn't see anything but a blur. After wiping my eyes, I looked up at my mother, saw the tears in her eyes and I could see that she was accepting the inevitable as well. I wanted to tell her thank you for every little thing she had ever done for me, all the time she spent making me into the person I was, but I couldn't speak. I, for the life of me, couldn't comprehend it. I had never seen anyone in my family so... defeated. I was so confused. It occurred to me that I didn't know the cause, so I looked in the direction of my mother's gaze and saw him.

The Beast. A giant man made out of what looked like magma glowing and stomping his way through the town, destroying everything in his path.

He wound up a big ball of energy and let loose. I swear time slowed to a near standstill. I looked at my sister as she closed her eyes, tears beading down her face washing off the dust from the destruction, and thought of her new car, her Cum Laude graduation party, her championship volleyball game, and her prom night with her awesome new boyfriend. All the things that were going good for her. All the things that in a moment were going to cease to exist. I tightened my grip on my mom's arm and remembered her last choir concert and how proud she was when I made all A's on my report card the week before. I saw everything. Then there was nothing.

Deafening silence. Blinding darkness. It felt like I was being pulled apart in every direction while being stabbed through the chest with a flaming spear. And in a flash, it was over. Images of my life flashed before my eyes, and then I blacked out.

I woke up some time later, though I don't know exactly how long, buried ten feet under bricks and dust and bodies. There was rebar all around me and a piece had pierced my hand in the palm going straight through. I would've been terrified, but it didn't hurt, and I wasn't bleeding. I collected myself, at least as best as a young teenager can after losing everyone he's ever cared about and being buried alive under dead people and crumbled buildings. I don't remember how long I was there, but I do remember that no one ever came to rescue me. I had to have done it myself somehow.

I can control metal. That's my power. So while I was lying there, unaware of my new-found abilities, I was scared to see the metal in my burial plot was moving towards like I was a very powerful magnet. I'm not magnetic, but I didn't know how to control my powers yet, or that I had them, so they just sort of did what they wanted. The metal started bending towards my legs. I looked down at them and saw that the right one was broken. Bad. Like ninety degree angle bad. All of the sudden, the metal shoots into my leg, straightens it, and hardens. It hurt like hell, but I could tell that it was healed. That was all that mattered. The fact that what had happened made no sense didn't mean anything to me at that moment.

Eventually, I made some sense of what was going up. Watching movies helps you realize what's happening when it's downright crazy. I realized that I had some kind of power. I tried to control it, make things happen, but at the time I had no idea how, and doing anything was more a matter of luck than skill. I eventually made the metal shift enough to open up a hole above me just big enough for me to escape through. Once I was at the top of the mound, I looked around and immediately wished that I hadn't. I'd tell you what I saw but... some things are left not described.

I made my way to an abandoned, and demolished, apartment building. As soon as I found a "safe" place to rest, I burst into tears. It wasn't the stoic kind of crying, it was more of the kind of crying where you're crying because there is nothing left to feel but empty, and the tears are just all the feelings escaping so you could feel that way. I was never a gracious crier either, so it was very ugly. Bawling and sobbing and choking up to the point where I couldn't even breathe. I think I was dehydrated by the time I fell asleep, and I think I slept for a week straight. What reason was there for me to be awake anyway?

My family was gone. My friends were in all likelihood gone as well. I had very few people to begin with, but now that everyone was dead... what was I to do? What was left for me in the world? That's when I remembered my powers. I needed to find out more about them. What were they? How did I get them? What was the extent of my ability? I had to know. I owed it to my mom and my sister to live my life, and if I planned to do that, I would have to get used to being a freak with superpowers. No sense in wearing a mask, because there was nobody left for people to hurt to get at me. I wasn't sure if I was going to go off to become a superhero or a villain or a guy with powers who just hides, but I had to know what I was.

But that could wait until I woke up.


	2. The Water Tower

I didn't sleep well, but I slept for a very long time. I stayed curled up in a ball under a desk in that apartment building for two days. I don't think I stopped crying. I broke. I was just there physically, not mentally, not emotionally.

When I started getting restless, I decided it was time to get out and try to find supplies. I got up, my legs wobbling and my head spinning, and went outside. I scanned the street and saw nobody. Nobody alive. I thought to myself that the first thing I needed was water. I went to some convenience stores and checked for bottled water, but I only found a few bottles. I threw them in a tattered backpack I found on the street and kept going. I decided it might be a good idea to find an intact water tower up on a roof somewhere to make a little... fort, I guess I would call it. After climbing up a ladder to the top of a halfway standing building, I spotted a building about ten blocks away that was relatively unscathed by the disaster with a water tower on top. I climbed down and headed that way.

About three blocks into my hike (I call it that because I had to climb crazy amounts of rubble and debris), I met my first person since The Beast blasted everyone into oblivion. Her name was Jennie, I think. Our... relationship didn't last very long, but it was nice to have someone to talk to. Jennie looked to be in her early thirties, and I don't think she had ever skipped a meal. She stumbled over some garbage, and I jumped to help her. Word to the wise, don't make any sudden movements towards people who think they're the only person left after a crazy thing like this happens. She got up and swung a bat at me; luckily, I was able to dodge it and back up.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I didn't mean to scare you..." I whimpered. My voice hadn't been used in a while, and I didn't have much heart left to speak.

"Oh, um, well... I'm sorry I tried to hit ya'," she replied. Her voice was shaky as well, but she was able to make it sound like she had some kind of confidence because of her southern accent. It made her sound down-to-earth and stable. I knew it was she wasn't, but the feeling calmed me down a bit.

After a few moments of very tense and awkward silence, she spoke, a little more solid this time, "What's your name, boy? You look like a John."

John? Really? Lady, I don't look like a John. I would've said that, but that sounded maybe a little too rude and maybe a little too casual for a situation like this. I had no contempt for this person, but I didn't really want to trust so easily. Who knows what she was thinking. I just told her my name. She seemed surprised.

"Hmm... well, Andrew, my name is Jessie," oh yeah. Jessie. Jessie was her name, not Jennie.

I mustered up some courage and went to ask her if she wanted to come with me to the water tower, but then I noticed her backpack. It was pretty dang full. Then I remembered that I have powers. What if I took her supplies? I could live pretty well if that bag of hers had as much stuff in it as I figured.

My morals got the better of me, and I told her where I was headed and asked if she wanted to come with.

"You think it would be safe up there?" she asked.

"It oughtta be," I said with as much bravado as I could fake. I wanted to make it seem like I knew what I was doing. In all honesty, having someone to talk to kept me sane, so I wanted to keep her around for a while.

"Well... I guess I don't have anything to lose... alright, I'll go with you, but you're gonna have to wait up on me. I'm not exactly in shape," she cautiously chuckled. We walked a couple of blocks before Jessie had to stop for a few seconds. I was going to complain, but thought better of it. You know, what's the point?

When we finally got to the building with the water tower on it, we looked around for a way up. I ruled out any climbing thanks to Jessie and went to look for a flight of stairs in the building that led to the roof. I found a door that said "Roof Access", but the door was sealed by chains, a very heavy padlock, and two bolt locks. All metal. Jessie was still looking around for ladders on the outside of the building, so I figured I might as well get them off of there in style. It took me a few minutes, and I had to dispel some matter to relieve the pressure I felt in my chest, but I absorbed the metal locks and chains and got them off just in time for Jessie to be blissfully unaware that I was a freak.

She came walking in and I pretended that I was about to go tell her that I found the door.

"Hey, we can get up there from here."

"Ok," she seemed nervous. "Lead the way."

I opened the door and started climbing the stairs. I had to be careful just in case one of the stairs wasn't strong enough to walk on, but we got up to the roof fine.

The water tower had a leak but was still pretty full. I "welded" the leak shut with some metal from the tower's casing. I went in the building and kept bringing stuff up there. Couches, tables, TVs, anything we could use to keep ourselves entertained and protected. I built a barrier around the edges of the roof out of wood I tore from the floors. I used the quiet to gather supplies. I didn't need to eat and could protect myself somewhat effectively thanks to my powers, but Jessie was always hungry and couldn't really hold her own in a fight without a weapon.

Every time I went out and came back with food, I told Jessie that I had eaten it when I found it, that way we had more food for her, and I found a few guns and a box of ammo just in case anyone decided they wanted the water tower more than us. As the town came back to life, people got desperate. Every day you'd hear gunshots. It was a warzone.

But we were safe, for the most part, up in our water tower. Things were relatively peaceful up there. We had a few visitors from time to time coming to get water from us. If they asked nicely, we'd give it to them. We had plenty of it, and we didn't want to see people dying because we were too selfish to help them. If people came and demanded that we gave them water, we usually turned them down. And by turned them down, I mean we held them at gunpoint and made them go away. We didn't have an abundance, and we didn't want to reward bad behavior. Wielding a gun felt so redundant when I could make my own bullets, but once again it was just something I had to do to keep Jessie from knowing about my powers.

We went on like that for a while.

Then the Patron Saint of New Marais activated the RFI.

I don't know exactly how I survived it, but I do remember Jessie freaking the hell out. I remember rolling on the floor. Dying. I felt it. I was dying. Every part of my body... I could feel every part of my body dying. I don't think I have ever been able to even imagine such pain. I wanted to die. I wanted it to be over. The pain was so bad. So damn bad. I can't explain it, and I don't want to explain it, I'm sorry. It just... sucked.

I woke up seven days later, if Jessie was to be believed. I think she was.

She told me that whatever it was that caused the destruction had been stopped at the same time as I went down. She had questions. I had answers, but I didn't want to tell her anything. She was adamant.

I told her what I was. I was a freak, though she told me I was a Conduit. That's the first time I had heard the term. She was disgusted. After what had happened, after what one of "those monsters" did, she had the right to be. She left the water tower the day after. I never saw her again.


	3. Tower Takeover

At first, it hurt, but I was able to get over it. We never really hit it off as friends, anyway. It was always more of a necessary relationship that kept us both sane. She was just a person. It may sound shallow, but in all honesty it was.

I stayed at the water tower hoping for help, but it never came. I guess we just weren't important enough, or maybe the government was still worried about radiation. They didn't fully understand the situation. Everything came to a halt so fast, so abruptly, that I don't think anyone understood it. Half of the country was devastated by The Beast.

Nelson City was hell. Every crime against humanity had been committed. Daily.

It was about three days after the RFI activated when they attacked. The damn gang. My tower was pretty much the only one standing, and the towers were pretty much the only source of water in our city, so of course everyone needed it, and everyone wanted it.

They were dressed in all green, the colors of a gang whose name I can't remember. They weren't really a big thing until The Beast came through, so I never paid much attention to them, but then they were at my barricaded door, and they made themselves very hard to ignore.

I was asleep when they came, which is unusual. I never really got tired. It might have been that I had nothing better to do and figured that I might as well get some rest, but regardless, letting my guard down like that really put me in harms way.

I didn't have much time to react. They blew through the stairwell door. That woke me up. I jumped out of bed and ran to the roof's stairwell door. I had a lot of metal up there. Jessie always wondered why I kept it up there, and I always told her that it was just in case we ever wanted to make anything. In reality, I was always more comfortable when metal was around, and I knew I could use it in a situation like this. I'm glad I was smart enough to plan ahead.

I used the metal to bar the doors, but since the RFI my powers had been much weaker, so I knew from the moment I tried to absorb some that my constructs would be too weak to hold for long. I had to move, fast, but I had nowhere to go. I was on the top of a roof. I was frantically devising a plan when they started ramming the door. I was terrified. These guys had guns and from what I heard they had explosives as well. They could kill me. I was still afraid of death, even after what I'd seen and what I'd experienced; in fact, I'm pretty sure that made me even more scared. I froze.

They burst through the door and time slowed. Time tends to do that in intense situations. It was just like when... before... with The Beast. Except this time I was going it alone. I saw a Hispanic man's face. Just his eyes, really. He was scared, too. I could see it in all of them. I guess the crazy guys on the roof with the water tower had a reputation. I could see relief in their faces when they saw that it was just a kid up here. Time went back to normal.

They lowered their weapons. I didn't.

My hands were up, metal dust everywhere, ready to snap forward and end their lives if need be, ready to defend myself against whatever they could throw at me. Or shoot at me.

I could see it in them that they had seen my kind before. They had seen the worst of us. They came up here expecting a few people with guns and got a scared kid. They were so relieved, but they saw that the scared kid was a Conduit. A battle-ready, metal manipulating Conduit. I played that to my advantage.

"You fellas broke into the wrong place," I said. I was trying to be as intimidating as possible, but my voice cracked, and I think that may have ruined the illusion.

They yelled some stuff in Spanish, I think, that I couldn't understand, but I could tell by their tone they were angry and scared and impatient. All of us were, but I had superpowers, and that made gave me the upper hand. Especially when they had guns. Guns that shot metal bullets. Metal bullets couldn't hurt me. Metal heals me. What could they possibly do to me?

I lunged toward them and lashed out a whip of metal dust. It wasn't very strong, but I wasn't trying to hurt them, just scare them. One of them shot at me. The bullet dug into my arm, and yeah it hurt. Bad. I was bleeding. We all stopped for a second or two. Don't really know why. Maybe it was because I screamed. Not loud but definitely piercing, and I don't think any of us thought that it would be me getting hurt.

The bullet absorbed into my arm and the bleeding stopped, but the pain didn't go away. I wasn't invincible. These powers didn't make me immortal. Too late to be realizing that.

I couldn't stay up there. I knew for a fact that at that point in my ability I was not going to survive a barrage of bullets. I drew up a shield in front of me and pushed it at my attackers to throw them off balance and give me time to get away. Get off the roof. The only way down was off the sides. It scared me. That jump was at least thirty feet down, and I'm most likely underestimating.

While they were staggering, I held my breath and jumped. The fall lasted for what felt like... I don't know... a very long time. I remembered that you're supposed to roll when you land, so I did, but it most certainly didn't keep it from hurting like hell when I hit the ground. It's a good thing I'm a Conduit, or I would have died, no doubt. I got up, slowly, very slowly, and limped away. I could still hear the gang people up by my water tower yelling, victoriously, I thought.

I healed myself up. I didn't know where to go, so I just wandered around the city until the military showed up. They were there for me. Me in particular. I didn't know why at the time, but when I found out, I felt the most anger I had ever felt. I felt hate. I usually don't feel negative things towards people, but this was different.

I had been betrayed.


	4. Running

The military ambushed me. I don't remember much of a fight because there really wasn't one. I ran. Fast. Very fast. Even through the pain in my legs.

Jessie, the first person I had met since everything went to hell, the person I relied on to keep me going, to keep me sane, the person who I had provided food and water and shelter for all on my own, the person I thought cared about me maybe even slightly and who I cared about maybe just a little, had turned me in. She called in the military. They had a reward going for Conduits. She turned me in. She betrayed me for scraps of reward money. Everything I did for her, all of it, meant nothing because what was I? A freak. A mutant. A monster. That's all I was to her. A monster. Am I a monster because I was born this way? I never asked to be born this way, and I damn sure didn't enjoy it. I never ate because food had no taste. I didn't need to drink anything, so I could go without; however, I still got thirsty. I had the physical feelings of hunger and thirst but didn't really need to eat or drink. Metal took care of that. The metal coursing through my veins provided all the nourishment my body needed. That should've been a good thing: not having to worry about getting food and water. It wasn't. Human instinct is to get food and water. When you no longer need it, when you're cravings for it become superficial, you begin to feel as though you might not even be human. I didn't even need to breath as much. I could sit somewhere and hold my breath for hours as long as I had a metal pipe next to me. I was a freak, right? Wasn't I? It sure felt like it. I never felt less human. I was the epitome of different. A mutant. I had attempted to kill people. It was in self-defense, sure, but I know that if I had gone through with my attack on those gang members, they'd be dead. You know who kills people? A monster. So yes. Jessie was right.

But you don't betray your friends, or at least people you thought were your friends. That's the code I always lived by. In school, I always took the blame, did the hard work, tagged the walls, and dealt with the consequences so that my friends didn't have to. Jessie went out and turned her back on me, talked about me behind my back, turned back around, and sent the goddamn army to gun me down. Who does that? For what purpose? For the money? For the recognition? Or was she just a bad person, and I couldn't see through that? I don't know, but what I do know is that she betrayed me.

Anyway.

I got away from them.

I spent the next four years of my life on the run, nothing in particular stands out in memory. I was just constantly on the move, living in rundown buildings, under a few overpasses, and in more than enough cardboard boxes. It's not really what you'd expect to hear in a story about a Conduit, but it's what happened. I'll spare you the boring details.

I eventually made it to Seattle. That's where they got me, the DUP that is. I was ambushed by a bridge. I fought back for maybe a minute before giving up. I was just so tired of running, and the fight took away the rest of my will to keep at it. They took me in and brought me to one of the most... prestigious... places known to my kind.

Curdun Cay Station.

(**I know this chapter was short, but I felt like expanding too much on this part would make it stale since it doesn't really contribute much action. Things start picking up in the next chapter and will most likely be in full swing in the one after that. Thanks for reading this far!)**


	5. First Few Days in Curdun Cay

I know that you're probably think, "Oh no, he's in Curdun Cay!" but in all honesty, I liked it there. Most people claim it was basically a Conduit prison, but it wasn't. At least not for me. I had my powers taken away by cuffs around my arms and was locked up in a cell like any other Conduit there, but in my case, that didn't last very long. After what I think was two days, a red-headed lady came into my room and told me that I was to begin training. She didn't say anything about why I was here, what kind of training I was going to be doing or why, or anything. She just said I'd be training. I wasn't in a position to argue and say no, but she seemed nice enough. The nice ones never last, though.

She brought me into a pretty big room with thick walls. No metal.

"Tell me when you are ready to begin, Andrew," she said in what sounded like a motherly tone.

How did she know my name?

I looked around the room and noticed there were targets at varying distances away from me on one side of the room, so I knew she was expecting me to demonstrate my abilities.

"You know I need metal to use them, right?"

"Indeed," she replied, raising an amused eyebrow and pushing a button in front of her.

I wondered why she was standing on the floor above me behind a thick plexiglass window. Was she afraid of me? Is that why she withheld my power source until now? As a piece of steel was being lowered onto a table next to me from a hole in the ceiling, I looked up at her and said, "You know I'm not going to hurt you, I promise."

She seemed taken aback by the statement despite her very composed attitude, and that told me that I hit the mark.

"Well... good," she hesitated. "This is just a test. Nothing big. I just want to see what you are capable of doing. Simply absorb the steel and use it to hit the targets. Don't overexert yourself. Again, you may begin whenever you so choose."

I half-nodded, half-shrugged and turned towards the table. I could... feel the metal on the table. I could feel it with my eyes like it was sending vibrations through them. I reached out my hand at the metal, focused on the vibrations, and poof! the metal turned to sand and came flying into my palm. I could feel it coursing through me, not violently, not gently.

I turned to the targets and raised my hand. Focusing was difficult. My body felt heavier than normal. I zoned in on the target closest to me and let fly. A tightly clumped stream of metal dust shot out of my hand, soaring through the air to the target at incredible speeds. I missed.

Missing made me feel a little embarrassed, so I had to center myself a bit before I was ready to go again. I repeated my previous actions but aimed for a while longer this time. My shot hit the target square in the chest area and, I'll tell you, that felt great. Using powers and actually using them well. I spent the next ten minutes in the firing range shooting at the targets. I had hit all of them in the head at least once while I was in there, and in that short time, I felt my powers get stronger. I felt like there more strength behind my attacks; however, my head had begun to hurt and I was very tired. I must've used too much metal.

It must've been rather obvious that I was worn out because the red-headed lady broke in over a speaker, "That's enough, Andrew. You have potential. We will set up a routine for you."

I was genuinely excited. I nodded in agreement and was moved back to my cell. I still had to wear the cuffs, but I understood.

They had a TV in my cell with a voice controlled remote. I had that on and was watching cartoons (there's nothing wrong with that, by the way), but I wasn't really paying. My mind was more focused on my powers. My mind wanted to get back into that room and shoot some targets. I started thinking about the red-headed lady and how she sounded impressed with me. What else is there to train? Aren't conduits just weapons?

I fell asleep eventually, but I can't recall exactly when. The lights never turned off, so it was difficult to tell time. There was a knock at my cell door that woke me up. It was someone I hadn't seen before. I got up and went to the door. He had told me that I was time for me to get started for real with the training.

He led me to a room in what seemed like the other side of the station. Inside were four people; three were in cuffs. The other was the red-headed lady, our teacher.

She welcomed us as the handler left the room, closing and locking the door behind him.

"We are going to go around the room and introduce ourselves. I'll start. My name is Brooke Augustine. I am able to control concrete."

We all sat there for a few silent seconds before she decided to just call on someone. Me, of course.

I managed to stutter something along the lines of, "Andrew. Metal." I didn't look up. I was very interested in the flooring.

Augustine called on the person next to me.

"I'm... I'm Monica. I- I can control air."

She was cute. I mean, like, she was all quiet and stuff. She looked to be around my age, maybe a year younger, so that would put her at sixteen-ish. She was Hispanic but could pass for white at a distance. And she was definitely good looking.

Next was another girl. She spoke a little louder, "My name is Lauren and I control fire."

She seemed proud of it. Her powers, I mean. She wasn't bad looking, but I wouldn't say she was attractive. At least not to me. She was a little too... gifted for my tastes, but whatever. She was white, like pale white, which seemed weird for someone with fire superpowers. Brunette. She looked to be a few years older than me so somewhere around twenty.

Lastly was another guy. He seemed not nervous but scared. He seemed afraid to be in the room with us. He wouldn't speak, so Augustine spoke for him, "This is Carl. He can control water."

He was black and a good deal older than the rest of us. Probably in his forties. He was built but still very scrawny looking. There was an impression of fear on his face like he had seen the worst of the world and couldn't forget it. He probably had.

Augustine looked around at us and let our words hang in the air for a minute, the she continued, "Ok. We will begin today getting you all into peak physical condition and mastering your powers. This will continue for a while, so I am going to try to make it enjoyable for you all."

Lauren broke in, "Why are you doing this to us?"

Augustine recoiled at the question, clearly irritated by it. She cleared her throat and replied, "_To _you? _For_ you. I need you strong and you need you strong."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because," she paused, "we are the future."

And with that, a door opened leading to a huge training room, and class began.


	6. Power Training

We started off simple: learning how to better absorb our respective elements. Doing it faster and being able to retain more for a longer time. Since we had to do this to use our powers, it made sense for us to get better at it.

Augustine had set up a station for each of us containing large quantities of our forms of matter. In front of me there was a large block of what I thought was iron. Lauren had a big open flame going, Carl had a pool full of water. Monica just kind of sat there for the time being. She controlled air, so I guess it would've been hard to store it for her.

Looking at my station, it was very obvious that Augustine intended to challenge us. There was way too much metal there for me to absorb easily. She that clear when she told our assignment.

"You are each going to fully absorb what you have in front of you," she looked over to Monica. "You will have to do this exercise separately."

Y-yes, ma'am," she stammered. It sounded like there a reason behind why she was being separated. Other than the fact that the rest of us needed air to breathe, that is. I felt like Augustine knew something about Monica that made her nervous. I couldn't put my finger on it.

Monica went into another room adjacent to ours. There was a window between the two rooms so she didn't feel left out, I suppose. I kind of felt bad for her.

Augustine continued, "You are going to drain it all. You have as long as you need, but do not take your time."

That confused me. We have however much time we need but aren't to use it all? I guess that was just her way of telling us to hurry up and get it done. I didn't want to disappoint Augustine, and I definitely wanted to look good for my new "friends", especially Monica, but she was in a different room anyway.

A short moment of silence passed before Augustine told us to begin.

I started first if memory serves me correctly. I had gotten the metal into shavings, then into dust, and was just about a quarter of the way through getting it all drained when the window between the rooms began wobbling. It was pretty violent. It stopped wobbling after a few seconds, and at first that seemed like a good thing, but then I noticed that it was only because it was being sucked in. The two inch thick plexiglass window was bending in.

I looked around Augustine, but she must have stepped out of the room. I didn't know what to do, and nobody else seemed to have noticed it. The only reason I did was because I was looking at Monica. My moment of confusion was interrupted.

The window folded in, buckling and tearing through its frame into the other room. Carl and Lauren were thrown to the floor in the direction of the hole in the wall while I hung on to a bar on my station's structure. The window crashed into Monica and flung her across her room to the opposite wall.

When an enclosed space becomes devoid of air, it creates a vacuum, and when the window failed, the vacuum attempted to regain some air, and since our room had plenty, the other room decided to take ours. As the air in our room was sucked into the other, we were pulled as well, so Carl and Lauren were on the floor and pinned to the wall, and I was hanging for dear life to that bar. Once the pressure between both rooms equalized, we were let go. I somehow managed to land on my feet, dizzy but not hurt, and as the only person standing I felt it was my duty to go help Monica.

I ran into the other room through the hole in the wall. Monica was unconscious and underneath the window. I tried to lift it off of her, but it was way too heavy. I tried again to no avail. Then I remembered I had superpowers (I tend to forget that a lot) and made a metal construct under the window. I kept feeding it more metal until it was just big enough to give me enough room to pull Monica out from under the window.

She was hurt. Bad. I could see visibly at least three broken bones, a gash on the side of her head, and bruising on her face. I was scared for her. I was so damn worried. I needed to help. I needed to make this better. I don't know why, but I couldn't let her down. I needed her to be ok. I remembered when I was under the rubble after The Beast tore through Nelson City and how the rebar had healed me. If I could heal myself with it, who's to say I couldn't heal her. It was worth a shot.

I made a metal cloud around my hands and slowly and as calmly as I could manage placed it on her chest. I don't know how I did it or how I knew what to do, but she absorbed it, and I could see her bones fixing themselves, the bleeding on her head stop, and the bruising on her face fade. I healed her. I don't know how it worked, but it did. That's all that matters.

Augustine finally showed up with the others running in behind her. She was frantic.

"What happened?!"

"The- the window just... I don't know. She got hurt and I- I think I helped," I said with my shaky voice.

Two handlers came in and took Monica away for treatment. I think it goes without saying that class was over.

If I had done something when I noticed the window bending, maybe she wouldn't have gotten hurt. I know I healed her and all, and Conduits are naturally resilient, but we still feel pain, and the thought of her feeling pain hurt me, especially when I felt that I could've prevented it.

We went back to our cells.

The next day Monica was up and about in class. It was very awkward for her, I'm sure. While we were taking a break from target practice, I went over and tried to talk to her.

I'm always nervous talking to people. Always have been, but this was different. Not that it being different made me any less nervous; I just felt like I had to say something, talk to her.

I waited until Carl and Lauren were occupied and walked over. I could tell she didn't want to talk, but it was already pretty evident that that's why I was looking at her.

She looked back at me, "Yes?"

I had expected to get the first word in, but whatever, "Hi. Are you... are you alright? From yesterday?"

"Oh, um, yes. I'm ok thank you."

"Oh good. Just wanted to, you know, check in and stuff."

"I'm ok thanks."

"Well alright. I'm gonna get back to the targets," I said trying to get back to work.

I turned to walk away, but Monica stopped me.

"Wait!" she yelled, I think on accident.

I turned back to her, "Huh what?" I sounded a bit startled. That's the loudest voice I had heard since I got to Curdun Cay and it came from the quietest person (well, other than Carl, but he never talked anyway).

"I- um... did you really heal me?"

I didn't expect that.

"Well... yeah. You got hurt. I don't like my friends getting hurt."

She looked down shyly, "Friend?"

"Yeah."

"Well... thanks, Andrew."

She sort of like... I don't know... quick hugged me and walked past over to her target range. That went well.

We kind of went along like that for the next couple of weeks. Our training kept getting more intense every day, but I had my friends there with me, and I don't quote friends because by then we had all gotten pretty close. Augustine moved us into a joint cell with four bedrooms and a little living room in the middle. We had a TV and even some video games. It was great. Back before I was activated, when life was normal, I never had anyone as close to me as them. Well, except my family.

Plus, if having friends around you all the time isn't good enough, constantly getting stronger and more powerful through fun, engaging exercises made it all the better. I enjoyed having the schedules, and being around others with powers made me feel like I belonged. We were always competing against each other and I usually ended up on top. I was good at the defensive stuff. Monica was good at supportive stuff. Carl was good at healing. Lauren was good at destroying stuff. We complimented each other well.

After about a month, we were at our strongest. That's when the Conduits came. The Conduits and their very vocal leader. Their leader, Zeke Jedediah Dunbar.


	7. Abduction

Alarms started ringing all over the Station. Apparently, Zeke and his band of Conduit freedom fighters had attacked a small base a good distance away. That base contained some high value intel and supplies, so Augustine had to send reinforcements. She also had to coordinate the defense; she was in the command room when the Conduits came at us.

We were herded into a panic room when the alarms went off and abandoned in there. We were alone and scared. There was fighting in the distance. We could hear gunfire. The attack on the other base was a diversion. No one expected them to attack the Station. They stormed the place from the front, and had a small team come for us.

I didn't know why they wanted us at the time, and after everything I've gone through since I feel so ridiculous for fighting back, but in the heat of the moment we did. They blew a hole in the panic room ceiling and jumped into the room. Three people wearing just normal clothes. They were clearly not trying to hurt us. They were yelling at us to come with them. We wouldn't. Curdun Cay was our home. Augustine was like our mother, the handlers our family. This was where we belonged. We felt comfortable here. Instinct tells you to protect your home. We attacked them. I'm not sure if they survived, but they were beaten down pretty bad.

We exited the panic room, figuring it would be a good idea to escape while we could and regroup with Augustine and the DUP later. For the first time, I saw what it was like outside Curdun Cay Station. Mountainous and snowy. It was night, and visibility was limited. At least until a ball of light flew towards us.

It's amazing what Conduits can do. This Conduit was able to control light. Somehow she saw us through the darkness and snow and alerted her allies. I guess maybe controlling light meant she was able to see in the dark? Regardless, we were spotted and had to prepare for a fight.

We were in a parking lot, but all of the vehicles had gone off to defend against the bulk of the attack at the station and the smaller base. This left us without cover, so as the unit's defensive expert, it was my job to get us some. I had metal stored to my ears from training, so I didn't have to worry about running out. Metal constructs sprung up from the ground all around me. While everyone ran to take cover behind them, I spawned metal clouds around them. These clouds were made of metal dust and would clump together to block anything that entered them. It was just in case something managed to get passed cover.

I was able to armor myself by creating a metal shell around me, just like a suit of medieval knight armor except much more mobile. I couldn't attack while I had those clouds and constructs out because they would weaken, and I needed to protect my friends while they were fighting.

There were at least six Conduits converging on our position. With our defenses set and us in cover, we could start a counter-attack. Monica, the supporter, channeled the air around her into a cyclone and sent it to the enemies. The strength of the winds kept them off balance and unable to see thanks to the snow being kicked up. Lauren, our damage dealer, was sending fireballs towards where she thought the enemies were. I heard a scream or two when they hit their marks. Carl was basically our medic, but since none of us were getting hurt, he focused on clearing a path through the lot. It was covered in snow, and the gates and fences were cased in ice. Lauren had set a fire that was melting snow for Carl to use. He kept blasting the gates while we were fending off our attackers.

I was rather proud of myself, not letting anyone get hurt. Monica still hated combat. Lauren was ecstatic. She always had a thing for fighting, even before she was activated from what I'd heard. Carl had gotten through the gate, so it was time for us to get going. I called out for us to go, and when everyone was ready, released my constructs, so I could focus more on shielding everyone while we made a break for it. Monica got extra protection, just in case.

We made it through the gate and out into the mountains. There were only three Conduits chasing us at this point, so apparently Lauren had done her job well. We thought we were free. We thought we were going to be able to get away, but we were wrong.

Somehow the enemy had planned for this exact outcome. They had set up an ambush spot, and there were at least twenty Conduits there all with their hands up at us and ready to attack. Time slowed again.

I pulled everyone in and domed us. Literally. I put a five inch thick dome of metal all around us. I felt like a scared turtle. I could hear bolts of energy hitting our shell. This was it. I couldn't see a way out. Everyone had their eyes closed and waiting for the end. I looked into their eyes and saw a very familiar expression in all of them.

No.

Not again. This wasn't happening again. I cared about people again. They were not going to die because I wasn't strong enough to save them. Not again. Never again.

So I gathered every bit of strength I had left. All of it. Every atom of metal in my body was primed and ready to explode in a final attack. I let our dome go and forced every ounce power in me outwards. If you saw it from a distance, it must've looked like a silver Ray Sphere detonation. I saw my friends lying there next to me; they were unconscious but alive. The enemy had either dispersed or been killed. I hoped I just scared them off. Killing people was never really something I wanted.

My friends were relatively safe for the moment. I couldn't stay awake any longer. I was just so damn tired, and the cold from the snow felt really good.

I passed out and woke up two days later in a dark cell.


	8. Debriefing

I could barely see my hand in front of my face. The lights were never off in Curdun Cay, so I ruled out being there. Also, I didn't have my cuffs on. That was confusing. Someone took us in without cutting off our powers? Maybe they didn't have any cuffs? It actually scared me a little bit. If they didn't cuff me, did that mean they weren't afraid of me? Were they that strong, to just think I wasn't a threat like that? What the hell were they going to do to me? Were my friends ok? Did they get to Augustine?

So many questions with only a dark room to provide answers. It didn't give me much.

I waited for a pretty long time, for what I didn't know. My mind kept wandering back and forth between people. Monica mostly, then Augustine, then Carl and Lauren. Not that Carl or Lauren were bad, it's just Carl never talked and Lauren just wasn't my type of person. They were still family. Augustine was my teacher, kind of like my step-mother, and the first person to accept me with my powers and all. Monica was very important to me; I couldn't put my finger on exactly why I cared about her so much, but I think it was how beautiful she was and the fact that she was a Conduit like me. She was also really cute and funny and awkward and stuff, so there's that.

Sorry, I'm sure you don't want to hear my cheesy stuff.

But whatever. I was stuck in a dark room in an unknown location. I was scared but only because I didn't know anything. I was in the dark, literally and metaphorically, and I wasn't used to being uninformed. Listening intently for any noise, I heard voices outside. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but it was good to hear something.

Well it was until a fat guy burst through the door in front of me. He flipped on a light switch, which bugged me because I hadn't even looked for one, and pulled a chair in from outside. He closed the door and sat down face to face with me.

He looked me dead in the eye and just waited until finally, after what felt like a good twenty seconds, he says, "Dude."

That's it. Dude. Really? I mean, he didn't say anything else for at least two minutes. I thought about talking but figured that's what he wanted. I didn't want to give him satisfaction.

After a while, he spoke again.

"Who are you?"

I kept quiet.

"Look buddy, I got nothing against you; in fact, I'm probably one of the only people out here in the real world who doesn't."

Curiosity got the better of me.

"What do you mean," I asked.

"The... Empire Event... isn't that what the government calls it? Yeah, that was The Beast. A Conduit. Most people know that now and most people have no love for Conduits because of that. The DUP took over to 'protect' us normals from Conduits, but they haven't been treating people too well. Them DUP guys don't have many allies. So... you're a Conduit working with the DUP. That makes you twice as bad to most people," he paused. "Not us."

"Who's us," I asked.

"The CRL? Conduit's Rights League? Well, I guess we're not. I mean they prefer that hippie bullcrap, blabbing on the internet about how everyone should be equal and all that jazz. Truth of the matter is: people see Conduits as weapons, not people, and it's gonna take more than words to change things."

"Wait, if you're a normal, why do you care so much about Conduits?"

He hesitated.

"...You ever heard of Cole MacGrath?"

"Yeah, that rings a bell."

"He was my best friend, my brother. He died to kill The Beast in New Marais, and I swore to help Conduits live normal lives."

"I remember that," I blurted out. "The Beast came through and activated me. Killed my family. When your friend activated that device of his, I nearly died."

"Yeah? Cole did die."

Silence.

"Where are my friends?"

"In other rooms. You'll see them soon."

"I want to see-"

"You will see them soon," he interrupted. "We're on your side. Give us some time to show you, to prove it."

"Why?"

"Because right now you ain't got much of a choice."

He left.

I swore if he's hurt any of my friends, I'd kill him and anyone else that stood in my way. I didn't care that I could barely walk or that I had no metal left in me to use or that I felt just so... damn... tired. I would do whatever I had to.

I was worrying for no reason. He wasn't planning on hurting any of us, but I didn't know that at the time. It's a good thing I decided to give him a chance. I would've gotten myself killed. It would have been worth it to save them. Even Lauren would have been worth saving. And Carl. And I don't need to say anything about Monica, right?

Apparently there was a war going on between the DUP, the CRL, and some unnamed group bent on destroying all Conduits. Zeke and his friends were fighting the anonymous anti-Conduit group while The Banner Man was fighting the DUP in Seattle. The DUP would win. I was sure of it. They were righteous and powerful, and with Augustine leading them they couldn't lose. Right?

No. I was wrong. So wrong.


	9. Down Time

The Banner Man toppled the DUP in Seattle. More people were on the side of Conduits because Delsin showed them that Conduits can have just as much humanity as anyone. Everything seemed fine in the world for everyone.

People yelled, "Goodbye DUP and good riddance!" in the streets. Conduits were being helped by new laws against the discrimination of Conduits. I didn't get it. The DUP took me in, gave me a family, a home, and people are out there celebrating its destruction? It pissed me off. They shut down Curdan Cay, basically evicted all of the Conduits there. How dare they? I had nothing without the DUP...

I met up with my friends a few days after Zeke came and told me the news. That was a few days after he talked to me the first time, so I figured about a week. We got together and talked and partied. Not the fun kind of party, but we were with eachother and doing something. Another few days later Zeke let us go.

Carl left, never having said a word, to go live in solitude hidden away somewhere. Lauren left too. Didn't know where to and honestly didn't care. Monica and I stayed with Zeke. We figured if everything was gone, we might as well try to make things better for people like us. The other group trying to kill all Conduits faded away with most of the anti-Conduit sentiment the DUP had somehow caused.

We were treated right inside Curdan Cay, but others weren't apparently. I don't know. Zeke told us that we were meant to be an assassination unit. We were supposed to kill enemies of the DUP, so they made us happy and loyal. It was a lot to take in, but as I started to think about it more and more, it seemed truthful. After all, it was all written in a file Zeke had taken from the Station. I guess we were just too blind to see it.

After a year with Zeke, I had uncovered all the lies the DUP had told us. I felt so stupid. Monica and I became keyboard warriors, writing about Conduits on the internet. Spreading love, you know, hippie bullcrap. There was nobody to fight. It made me anxious, so I ended up getting into arguments a lot. I made my own fights. I constantly asked myself what the point of having powers was if I couldn't use them. Zeke wasn't really a talker. He was a man of action like myself. He just sort of laid around all day with a blast shard, watching cartoons and old westerns. He always laughed when someone got shot.

Eventually though there was an increase in violence against Conduits. We couldn't put a finger on why until a video was released by a member of that recently disbanded anti-Conduit group. He wasn't the leader, that much was clear, but a new group was created. They called themselves the "Powerful Powerless". Cheesy name, I know. We just called them the New Militia. From the video, we could gather that his organization was intent on ending Conduits once and for all. Great, a new fight!

That's about it. I didn't want to get too in depth here, considering nothing else worth noting really happened during this time. Besides, I'm fairly certain that what's coming up next is going to be much more exciting. Definitely much more interesting. Because honestly, who doesn't love a good war story?

**(Alright. If anyone was actually waiting, sorry this took so long. I'm also sorry it's short, but I've been out of it lately. I wanted to get through this so I could segway into the actual cool part of the story, which will start in the next chapter. No more backstory stuff, so strap on... I mean in... and get ready :D)**


	10. Able Bodies

We were sitting on the couch when we saw the video on the news. It went viral instantly. It's all anyone saw for weeks. From the moment we saw it, we were preparing for war. Zeke knew all too well what it was like to fight against idealistic, idiotic armies like this one. I mean, hell, Zeke got the name New Militia from what he dealt with in New Marais. It's just a bunch of moronic bigots running around causing trouble and using the group as cover to do whatever the hell they want. This group was violent. They went from house to house in a few neighborhoods and straight up murdered every known Conduit they could get their hands on. It was ugly. I was ready to go too. I felt caged up at our apartment (yeah, Zeke let us stay with him. We had no money and we actually got to be pretty good friends.). I needed to get out there and do some damage to the bad guys for a change. I hadn't used my powers for anything but construction purposes in the whole time since the DUP fell, and I kept thinking back to Curdan Cay and our training. I don't think Monica felt the same way. She was always the timid one, but I think the idea of fighting never really appealed to her, which was wierd to me considering how much raw power she had. The incident with the implosion day one comes to mind.

Zeke got his band of badass pro-Conduit guys back together. All one hundred and sixty-two of them. He told us we needed to find our friends. We had made an incredible team, fending off all of Zeke's troops at the Station for as long as we did, and we were going to need that kind of power in the fighting to come. We had no idea where they were. Neither of us had heard from Lauren since she left, and we'd never heard from Carl to begin with, but Zeke was adamant that we needed to track them down; however, I wasn't starting anything until I was back to my old level of skill. Monica wanted to avoid fighting but realized that it wasn't really something that could be avoided. I wanted her to be able to protect herself and all, so we practiced together. We came up with some pretty awesome ways to combine our powers. We used a bunch of them in the war, but I don't want to spoil the awe.

A month passed and we were at our prime again. Prime Conduits at their prime. Zeke was arming people. This was the real deal. He was contracted by the military. The military. The government was on the side of the Conduits in a war. It was a turning point for the world, even if all they did was give Zeke guns and armor and a pretty good budget to spend. It showed that threats against Conduits were a no no. It was a good sign.

We exited our training room (we had a base of operations set up with the aforementioned budget) and Zeke was there waiting for us.

He stopped us, "Alright you two. I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you wanna hear first?"

"Uh... bad," I said. Rather have the good after to soften the blow.

"Yeah, bad," Monica agreed with me.

Zeke paused for a second, "Well, too bad. Here's the good news. We found your friend Carl!"

That was good news. Carl was a cool person, even if he didn't talk, and his healing was definitely going to be needed.

"Alright, what's the bad news then?" I said.

Zeke raised his eyebrows and quietly mumbled, "Well... he's been captured by the NMs."

"What?!" We blurted out simultaneously.

"Yeah. He's down in Texas. The NMs are dug in pretty well down there. You gotta go get him out."

At this point in conversations, the point where it picks up and gets serious, Monica usually backs out and lets me talk. She wasn't a talker.

"Where is he? Do you know exactly? And how well dug in are we talking here?" I asked.

I realized that I was following Zeke to our "Situation Room" with Monica following behind me while he was talking.

"Well, no we don't know exactly where he is, but we have a pretty good idea. I mean, we've narrowed it down to Houston."

"It's a start. We can work with that."

"Yeah, but the work isn't gonna be easy. You asked how well dug in they were? Well... let's just say the DUP looks weak in comparison. These guys have tanks. I don't know how they got 'em, but they do. They have auto-turrets with multiple barrels, guns, crazy manpower, I've seen a few military grade helicopters, rockets, mortars, missles, chemical weapons, and more. They have the city on complete lockdown. There's a wall around the whole place with like two hundred dudes up top patrolling at any given time. The only way in or out is through the front gate, but they only let very select people in. They have checkpoints there to check for Conduits, and since you probably want to avoid being executed on the spot, the only way for you to get in would be through the air, but they have air to ground missles and helicopters patrolling the skies and snipers and everything."

I didn't say anything for a while. I was trying to find some way to respond to that but ended up just sighing and saying, "Well, crap." Monica didn't say it, but I could see the "Oh boy" in her face. This wasn't going to be easy.

"Yeah," Zeke said.

"Well... are we going to have any backup at all?"

"I would provide some yeah, but I need to start fighting the guys in Virginia. They've settled in just as well there. Most of us don't have powers, and the ones that do are nowhere near as powerful as you two. I can't spare anyone."

Crap. "Alright, makes sense."

"So all that's left is for you to choose which way you want to go in. Either way is dangerous, and getting in undetected isn't really a possi-"

"I can do it!" yelled a scrawny looking teenage guy, interrupting Zeke.

"Uh... who's this Zeke?" I asked.

"I'm Tony. Tony Incognito."

"Incognito?" Monica asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Well... I never knew my family, so I never had a last name. They call me that because I can turn invisible. I can control light and make it bend around me so people can't see me, look!" and he just disappeared for five or so seconds before appearing behind me. I jumped.

"See?! I can sneak in and deactivate some of their defenses so y'all can get in easier!"

We all firmly said, "No," at the same time. We didn't want this kid getting himself hurt.

"Why not?! You need to get in there, and I wanna help."

"Kid, this is serious stuff. I get that you wanna help and all, but I don't want you getting hurt, okay? None of us do. We can do this on our own. Besides, Zeke probably needs you more," I told him to try and get him to go away.

"Well, no offense to Zeke, but you're Conduits like me. I wanna work with you guys. I mean, I saw you when we broke you outta Curdan Cay. It was crazy! I want to work with that power. I look up to you two! And your friends! I just wanna help." He trailed off.

Zeke and Monica both raised an eyebrow at me, and I could tell they meant to let him come along, but the dicision had to be mononymous.

I sighed a very sustained sigh, "Look, Tony, if you really want to come with us. If you really want to help, then I'm not gonna say no," he started celebrating, but I cut him off, "but! I'm not gonna lie. This is dangerous. I've lost a good number of people since I got these powers. I've killed. This is no game."

Monica seemed to tense up when I said that last part. I noticed that and made a point to talk to her about it later, but right now dealing with our new tag-along was a priority.

"I know, I know. I've seen it too," He said quietly. "I just want to help."

I looked him dead in the eye for a good five seconds.

"Alright then. Welcome to the team." And we shook on it.

New recruit number one. There would be a few more before we saved Carl, but not until later.

"Well, if you guys are all ready," Zeke began. "We gotta get moving. Drew, Monica, whatsyourname, be careful out there. See ya' on the other side!"

And with that he strapped the holster for his gun on his hip and jogged off to his personal chopper. Government funding is awesome. We had one too, but it was only made to accomodate a pilot, and two passengers, so it was kind of cramped in there. It also had no weapons or anything. It was just a way to get from point A to point B fast. Point A was our base in Seattle; point B was Houston, Texas. We crossed the border through Oklahoma.

It was about four o'clock when we first caught a glimpse of Houston's skyline on the horizon. It was about six o'clock, the break of dawn, when we were shot down.


End file.
